


Overlimit

by tanyart



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Developing Relationship, Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-07
Updated: 2013-09-07
Packaged: 2017-12-25 22:17:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/958229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tanyart/pseuds/tanyart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><b>Prompt:</b> Eren tests the degree to which Jean will accept silent forms of affection before Jean <i>has</i> to say something (for the sake of his dignity).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Overlimit

**Author's Note:**

> Birthday gift for [Endy](http://mightier.tumblr.com/). :)

Eren gets the idea from Hanji.

Or rather, he’s sure that Hanji may have inspired him to be more curious about certain things that he normally wouldn’t have been very curious about.  It’s probably the all experiments he has to go through, all that talk about ranges and limits, and how much his titan form can take – he can’t help if Hanji’s enthusiastic inquisitiveness starts to bubble over on his end. 

Of course, Eren’s not ready to dedicate himself to science so soon; he doesn’t plan on taking notes or measuring anything. But he has a hypothesis, and he thinks it should be enough.

He starts small.  He starts with slinging an arm around Jean’s shoulders, even though it probably doesn’t count since they do it all the time with other comrades.  It’s friendly and comforting, but Eren wonders what it might mean between them now.  He doesn’t think it matters.

Sure enough, Jean doesn’t seem to notice.  If he happens to lean a little closer then it’s inconsequential, and only because he _just_ completed drills and he’s tired and so is Eren.

It doesn’t count, because Jean doesn’t look the least bit perturb pressing in close.

So Eren’s tiny experiment doesn’t have the results he’s looking for, but he’s okay with that.

 

* * *

 

 The funny thing about being curious is that it becomes hard to sate.

Eren _is_ curious, but he is almost _not_ okay with this.  Almost.

He steels himself, not because he doesn’t want to do _it_ , but because there is also his own pride to consider.  It’s as much of a test on Jean’s willingness as it is on his, and he may have discovered his limit.   

They are in the middle of eating dinner.  It is going to be blatant and public, and Eren already feels that preemptive blush creeping to his ears. 

With a silent count to three, he throws a leg over Jean’s lap.

Perhaps there is a slight pause in chewing, and he definitely receives a raised eyebrow in return, but overall Jean looks sort of pleased with it, even if their neighbors clearly aren’t.

“Don’t be rude, you’re pushing Connie off the bench,” Jean says, grinning, but he doesn’t move so Eren ends up putting his leg down so Connie doesn’t make Sasha steal his dinner as revenge.

The next time they sit on a bench together Jean does the same to Eren.  Already it’s no big deal.

And already Eren is curious about what _would_ be a big deal.

 

* * *

 

Eren curls over Jean, resting his chin over his shoulder in an unplanned sneak attack from behind.

“Hey, J-“

Jean jumps, making Eren’s teeth clack unpleasantly, and he looks back at Eren like he doesn’t know what to do. 

Eren thinks he may have finally gotten Jean up until the moment Jean finishes his drawn out “ _uhh?”_ and tilts his head to peck Eren on the cheek, fleeting and brief, but somehow the light touch makes Eren’s eyes widen and heart pound in the most horrifying way.

Jean starts to look uneasy at Eren’s silence.

“What? Not what you wanted?”

Cheeks burning red, Eren slides off from Jean’s shoulder.  He glares at the ground, furious and upset because it’s his own fault, and mutters, “Wasn’t… expecting… that.”

Jean stares at him, exasperated.  “You put your face _this_ close to my face, and you weren’t expecting it?  I don’t understand you.  What _did_ you expect?”

Eren had never expected it to backfire like this.  He puts a hand to his cheek before realizing Jean’s assessing stare.  Already cringing, he tries to abort the gesture, tries to turn it into a neck rub or _anything_ _else_ , but he can already tell by Jean’s sudden smirk that he’s never going to live it down. 

“Oh, my god. You’re _charmed_.  By me.  ”

“Jean, don’t,” Eren hisses, covering his face, but he can’t even retaliate any further because he’s so angry and tongue-tied and Jean doesn’t stop giving him tiny kisses against his hands and somehow that makes it all the worse. 

“I make out with you for _weeks_ , and _this_ is what gets to you?” Jean gives one last tiny peck on Eren’s other cheek and watches with unrestrained glee as the color continues to rise in Eren’s face. “I sucked you off the other day and you didn’t even look this flustered.”

“Because you’re bad at blowjobs!”

Knowing that he’s won already, Jean only howls with laughter and punches his fist to the air in victory.

 

* * *

 

 For some reason handholding had always been one of the easiest things for them.  Eren supposes it’s their steady and sure grasps on each other, the way neither can hold back and how there is no misinterpreting a firm grip.

The hallway is empty and Eren catches up from behind, footsteps echoing a familiar rhythm that Jean seems to recognize.  Jean already has his hand out without glancing back.  He doesn’t even look at Eren, only ahead and complaining about chore duty and how his horse had thrown a shoe in the morning. 

Eren looks at Jean’s waiting hand, frowning, and curls a finger over Jean’s pinky and hooks the tips of their fingers.  It holds for a moment before slipping, but Eren just tries the same delicate clasp again.

Jean’s voice stumbles in mid-rant.

The balance is harder to maintain and they have to work on timing the gentle swim of their arms. It’s weirdly tentative when timidness has never suited either of them, but Eren supposes the challenge is a kind of intimacy that requires more deliberate care.

The secret, Eren discovers, that less is more. 

Because Jean is a person of details, who can tell when Eren is near just by the sound of his footsteps or charmed by half a gesture, Eren still slings an arm around his shoulders, and this time he learns to tilt his head, far enough to bump gently against Jean’s temple.  That way, he can feel rather than hear Jean’s breath catch and mouth move wordlessly, and Eren learns to be a person of details too. The next time Jean rests his legs over Eren’s lap Eren props his arms up over them and taps his fingers idly all throughout lunch, plays with the stitching on Jean’s boots and lines of his pants without making a big game of it.   

And while Eren still makes faces when given stupid tiny kisses, he rests his chin on Jean’s shoulder and figures how to let Jean sense the vibrations of his laughter when he’s not making any noise and feel how his throat moves as he speaks privately into Jean’s ear, even if it is just to mutter insults or something inane and unimportant.

 

Eventually Jean does reach his limit, turning to Eren one day with his face flushed and nearly shouting. Eren stares at him, confused.

“Stop what?”

Jean opens his mouth, closes it, and lets out a distressed groan.  “I don’t know!  It’s that thing, _things_ you…” and flings his hand up and down, indicating all of Eren in frustration.

“Right,” Eren says, unenlightened.

“I mean, how can you just, when you do stuff like-“ Jean halts, unable to put to words of exactly _what_ Eren does, because it is too many things at once, all little details that have quietly built up until neither Jean nor Eren can discern them.   

There is silence as Eren waits for an answer and that, much to their dismay, is a kind of affection as well. 

And Jean, at a complete loss for words, has no choice but to return it.


End file.
